Police third-quarter report to council: Burglaries, car prowls, vehicle theft down

(Photo courtesy of the Mountlake Terrace Police Department.)

During the Jan. 23 Mountlake Terrace City Council meeting, Police Chief Pete Caw, Cmdr. Scott King and Cmdr. Mike Haynes gave the third-quarter police report for 2024.

Highlights of the third-quarter “by the numbers” report showed reduced vehicle theft, burglaries and vehicle prowls, a slight decrease in arrests, but an uptick in domestic violence and DUI arrests.

“I suspect the primary reason for the reduction is due to legislative updates pertaining to vehicle pursuits and narcotics possession from last year,” Haynes said regarding the reduction in burglaries, vehicle theft and prowls.

Mountlake Terrace Police Cmdr. Mike Haynes (File photo.)

Further, violent crimes stay consistent with previous data. Haynes said, “Overall, Mountlake Terrace continues to be a very safe community.”

The entire quarter by the numbers can be seen in the presentation material here.

To keep up with safe pursuit skills, the officers trained in the precision immobilization technique (PIT). This driving technique disables a vehicle by bumping its corner in a controlled way with a patrol vehicle, forcing the car into a sudden sharp turn toward the side from which it was hit and into the shoulder of the road or highway.

Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Pete Caw

King said the department was able to put PIT cars together through state grant money.

“There’s nothing quite so much fun as driving police cars fast safely and learning how to run into the other cars and stop them safely,” Caw said.

Mountlake Terrace Police Cmdr. Scott King (File photo)

King assured the council that no metal was bent and no one was hurt.

Community outreach efforts that Cmdr. King reported on ranged from information booths at public events to saving a life by administering naloxone.

A case study of a drive-by shooting: Case #2024-167

King gave the council summary of an investigation that started at 9:30 p.m. Jan. 3, when the department began receiving fireworks complaints. However, the source of the popping explosions wasn’t illegal firecrackers but illegal firearms.

“When patrol arrived, they found bullet holes in the homeowner’s vehicle and residence,” King said.

After realizing the incident was a drive-by shooting, officers searched the street and residence area for evidence. King said the residents were safe and uninjured; however, a bullet had penetrated the home’s walls and was lodged in the bed of the homeowner’s 18-year-old daughter, 10 inches from where she was sleeping.

The daughter named a possible female suspect and told officers the suspect drives a black Mercedes.

Detectives responded by contacting neighbors for video and double-checking for evidence that may have been missed in the dark. Video footage from a residence across the street from the victim’s home and one down the street were given to investigators.

King said that both videos captured what appeared to be a black Mercedes driving by the residence and firing four rounds.

The victim explained she had been talking with a male subject, which made the female suspect –  his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend – jealous. She said the suspect had made comments about having a “bullet with her name on it.” Further, she had sent the victim’s friend a screenshot of her Snapchat location in the victim’s neighborhood.

Male suspect Marshall “Ocho” Johnson (Photos courtesy Mountlake Terrace Police Department)

The possible involvement of one of the suspect’s best friends and a male named “Ocho” was mentioned by the victim. The victim said Ocho had gang affiliation and guns. King said that investigators knew the suspect from a previous case.

Through his Instagram account, Ocho was identified as Mountlake Terrace resident Marshall Johnson, a subject well known to police and investigators. He had been contacted and arrested many times over the years.

Most recently, Johnson was arrested for armed robbery and assault, for which he served a prison sentence. Being a convicted felon, King explained that “Ocho” is ineligible to possess firearms.

Investigators ran Johnson’s name and found he had been contacted by Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office deputies as a suspicious person at Alderwood Middle School on the evening of Jan. 3, about 20 minutes after the drive-by occurred – the incident was for a report of shots fired.

The sheriff’s deputies contacted Johnson and his “girlfriend” at the school but could not find evidence of the gunfire.

The live bullet found in the Alderwood Middle School parking lot during daylight hours. (Photo courtesy Mountlake Terrace Police Department.)

King said that investigators went to Alderwood Middle School to double-check the area in the daytime for evidence that deputies may have missed in the dark. The investigators found a live round in the middle of the parking lot where the alleged incident occurred and took it for evidence. The surveillance footage collected was “fairly distant and grainy.”


Instagram posts helped investigators confirm the suspect’s identity. (Photos courtesy Mountlake Terrace Police Department.)

A 17-year-old girl driving a black Mercedes sedan is noticeable, especially in a middle-class town like Mountlake Terrace, and teens are prominent on social media, police said.

Detectives located the suspect’s Instagram account, where they found multiple photos of a black Mercedes sedan that matched the suspect’s vehicle from the neighbor’s surveillance footage. However, this was not the suspect’s only social media platform.

The suspect also used Snapchat, a social media platform that sends photos, videos, and chats but also has a locational “mapping” feature. This allows “friends” to share their locations.

The suspect holds a semi-automatic with a message threatening the life of the victim. (Photo courtesy Mountlake Terrace Police Department.)

Mountlake Terrace detectives served a search warrant on the suspect’s Snapchat account for mapping information, photos, videos, and chat logs. King said that although Snapchat content is not often saved, much of the suspect’s content was.

The Snapchat evidence showed the suspect filming herself driving around Mountlake Terrace, proven by the landmarks seen in the videos. The suspect also posted photos of herself wearing a pink ski mask while holding a black semi-automatic pistol. The caption read that she didn’t care if the victim was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, that she was going to kill her, writing the phrase, “imma off her.”

Further evidence found that the suspect had messaged a Snapchat user saying “I’m gonna do a drive by.”

King said that the Snapchat mapping feature showed the suspect was within 453 yards of the victim’s home only 30 seconds before the shooting.

Detectives contacted a witness to the drive-by shooting who confirmed the female suspect was the driver and lone occupant of the black Mercedes and fired four rounds into the victim’s home.

The witness also said they were at Alderwood Middle School when a male suspect matching Marshall “Ocho” Johnson’s description had fired a gun into the air.

The female suspect’s mugshot after her arrest in July 2024. (Photo courtesy Mountlake Terrace Police Department.)

The female suspect was arrested in Seattle on July 30, 2024 by the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force (PNVOTF).

Cmdr. King said the PNVOTF has made several arrests for the Mountlake Terrace Police Department over the last few months and is a vital resource when working to apprehend criminals known to carry weapons, flee or elude law enforcement.

The Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office charged the suspect with first-degree assault with a firearm, drive-by shooting (a felony in Washington state) and second-degree malicious mischief Aug. 14, 2024, King said.

Johnson may also be criminally charged for his actions at Alderwood Middle School.

King said that while the suspect was in Snohomish County Jail, she made multiple phone calls to relatives and friends. Investigators had access to all conversations except those with the suspect’s attorneys, which are protected under attorney-client privileges.

During two of the calls, the suspect said that Johnson had fired a bullet at Alderwood Middle School — the shot reported about 20 minutes after the drive by.

Although the suspect was a minor at the time of the crime, she was charged as an adult at the time of arrest and has since turned 18. She is currently awaiting trial.

Councilmember Steve Woodard.

Councilmember Steve Woodard said he was “deeply troubled” by the Snapchat post, in which the suspect said she didn’t care if her ex-boyfriend got the victim pregnant, because she was going to kill her.

“This is messed up, man… she was literally a child when this photo was taken,” Woodward said of the Snapchat post.

To him, Woodward said it seemed like a cry for help and asked where her Snapchat support structure was.

“Digital media is still the Wild West,” Caw said. “It’s dependent on the people watching to speak up and say something.”

The Mountlake Terrace Police Department advised that if you are unsure whether you’re hearing fireworks or gunshots, call 911.

By Rick Sinnett

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